ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said it evacuated 64,107 people from vulnerable areas with Cyclone Biparjoy expected to make landfall between Keti Bandar in Sindh and Kutch in Indian Gujarat on Thursday.
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said the cyclone was around 370km away from the southern port city of Karachi on Wednesday afternoon as it made a turn towards the northeast; 355km south-southwest of Thatta, and 290km south-southwest of Keti Bandar at 3.30pm (Wednesday).
“Maximum sustained surface winds are 150-160km/hour, gusts 180km/hour around the system centre and sea conditions being phenomenal around the system centre with maximum wave height of 30 feet,” the PMD alert said.
The alert added that under the existing upper-level steering winds, the “very severe cyclonic storm” had started to recurve north-northeastward and was expected to cross between Keti Bandar and the Indian Gujarat coast in the evening on June 15, packing winds of 100-120km/h.
According to the PMD alert, widespread wind-dust/thunderstorm-rain and some very heavy/ extremely heavy falls were likely in Sindh’s Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot districts during June 14-17. These areas could also experience gusty winds blowing at 80-100km/hour.
Likewise, dust/thunderstorm-rain with few heavy falls and squally winds of 60-80km/hour were likely in Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar districts from June 14-16.
Balochistan’s Hub and Lasbela districts could also witness dust/thunderstorm-rain and isolated heavy falls during this time, the forecast said.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said a total of 64,107 people, 86.23% of the people at risk, had been evacuated from “vulnerable areas”. The minister said the provincial government was still evacuating more citizens.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said 75 relief camps had been set up to accommodate those who were evacuated, and most of them were places with stable roofs, such as schools and colleges.
Rehman reiterated that people’s hesitation to evacuate and panic was natural and they were “leaving space for it”. However, she said people in at-risk areas would be forced to evacuate as there was “no other option”.
The minister further said that the Pakistan Navy has moved its assets to protected areas in the wake of the cyclone. “These are indicators of environmental effects coming in the form of cyclones,” she said, adding that such hurricanes are increasing not because of nature but of human activities and pollution.
Moreover, Sui Southern Gas Company, a federal gas supplier in Sindh and Balochistan, has suspended gas supply to industries, fertilizer manufacturing and compressed natural gas (CNG) sectors in wake of the cyclone.
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said the cyclone was around 370km away from the southern port city of Karachi on Wednesday afternoon as it made a turn towards the northeast; 355km south-southwest of Thatta, and 290km south-southwest of Keti Bandar at 3.30pm (Wednesday).
“Maximum sustained surface winds are 150-160km/hour, gusts 180km/hour around the system centre and sea conditions being phenomenal around the system centre with maximum wave height of 30 feet,” the PMD alert said.
The alert added that under the existing upper-level steering winds, the “very severe cyclonic storm” had started to recurve north-northeastward and was expected to cross between Keti Bandar and the Indian Gujarat coast in the evening on June 15, packing winds of 100-120km/h.
According to the PMD alert, widespread wind-dust/thunderstorm-rain and some very heavy/ extremely heavy falls were likely in Sindh’s Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot districts during June 14-17. These areas could also experience gusty winds blowing at 80-100km/hour.
Likewise, dust/thunderstorm-rain with few heavy falls and squally winds of 60-80km/hour were likely in Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar districts from June 14-16.
Balochistan’s Hub and Lasbela districts could also witness dust/thunderstorm-rain and isolated heavy falls during this time, the forecast said.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said a total of 64,107 people, 86.23% of the people at risk, had been evacuated from “vulnerable areas”. The minister said the provincial government was still evacuating more citizens.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said 75 relief camps had been set up to accommodate those who were evacuated, and most of them were places with stable roofs, such as schools and colleges.
Rehman reiterated that people’s hesitation to evacuate and panic was natural and they were “leaving space for it”. However, she said people in at-risk areas would be forced to evacuate as there was “no other option”.
The minister further said that the Pakistan Navy has moved its assets to protected areas in the wake of the cyclone. “These are indicators of environmental effects coming in the form of cyclones,” she said, adding that such hurricanes are increasing not because of nature but of human activities and pollution.
Moreover, Sui Southern Gas Company, a federal gas supplier in Sindh and Balochistan, has suspended gas supply to industries, fertilizer manufacturing and compressed natural gas (CNG) sectors in wake of the cyclone.